Developing an Ethical Framework for Virtual Reality Design and Implementation in Technical Communication

For those working in technical fields, the promise of Virtual Reality (VR) to provide engaging experiences that go beyond typical learning modalities has enormous potential to expand how we communicate with a variety of audiences. However, as is common with emerging technologies, intentionality, strategy, and ethical considerations attached to VR need to be designed from the ground up, rather than as an afterthought. In this paper, we offer one framework for building ethics into the design of Virtual Reality experiences to ensure that the process is centered in community and student needs. Grounding our work in an advanced water purification VR project that we created with our students and Immersive Experience partners, we share the ethical framing, course sequencing, and engagement strategies that we employed to ensure an ethical design.